On Monday, Barack Obama will be sworn into his second term as the President of the United States. And though the crowd won't be quite as big as it was in 2009, that hasn't stopped D.C. hotels from unveiling some seriously over-the-top packages to lure in guests (and gain media buzz — guilty).

These stays aren't so much "hotel specials" as they are for especially wealthy individuals who can afford to sleep in $10,000+ a night suites.

But it's not just about the suites — the perks are pretty nuts, too. From a Social Media Butler to document your entire stay, to a personal shopper and $5,000 store credit at Brooks Brothers, these hotels really outdid themselves on the extras. So we rounded up the 10 most expensive (and ridiculous) 2013 inauguration packages in Washington.

It costs between $5,500 and $100,000 to stay at The D.C. Four Seasons.

The Four Seasons will be treating their guests to un-specified "inaugural-themed" gifts throughout the inauguration weekend, but the minimum length of stay at the hotel is five nights with rooms starting at $1,095 and skyrocketing to $20,000 a night for those who want to sleep in the hotel's presidential suite. 

The Inauguration Package at The Madison Hotel comes with a Social Media Butler.

The Madison Hotel's $47,000 Inauguration Package has received a lot of buzz in the press, and for good reason — not only do guests get to stay in the Presidential Suite, have a personal town car and driver, as well as a $5,000 shopping spree at Brooks Brothers, but the package also includes a "Dedicated Social Media Butler" to chronicle your entire stay on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest (seriously).

It would cost you $49,800 for a stay in the Willard Hotel's Oval Suites.

Based on the White House Oval Office, the Willard Hotel's inauguration suites start at a $5,700 base price for a four night minimum. Add in the $27,000 catering service for your presidential parade viewing party, and your stay at the 150-year-old Pennsylvania Avenue hotel could cost just under $50,000.

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This is the Uuni wood-fired pizza oven from a Kickstarter project by Kristian Tapaninaho.

Why We Love It: Not everyone can afford to have a wood-burning oven in their kitchen for whenever they want to make a pizza, but Tapaninaho has invented one the size of a carry-on suitcase. It weighs approximately 11 pounds, measures 12 x 36 x 48 cm, and has temperatures of up to 840 degrees Fahrenheit (meaning you can cook a pizza in less than 3 minutes).

Tapaninaho is somewhat vague on his website about how exactly the oven works, but if you watch his Kickstarter video you can judge its efficacy for yourself. The oven takes 15-20 minutes to heat up and needs to be re-fueled with wood every 20 or so minutes.

Where To Buy: Available for pre-order through the Uuni website or Kickstarter page (the Uuni cookbook is not included).

Cost: $287.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

SEE ALSO: This Is The Most Hardcore Pocket Knife We've Ever Seen

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New resorts and dramatic developments continue to spring up in the Maldives. Here Adrian Neville looks at six of the most ambitious and unusual projects taking place across the islands.

Atoll golf
The average golf course is larger than most resort islands but a few smaller versions have nevertheless been built. Meeru has a pitch and putt, a green and a driving range and Kuredu has a full-size driving range and a lovely six-hole, par-three course. Shangri-La has built a nine-hole, mostly par-three course averaging 123.4 yards, beautifully set around its coastline. The Dutch Docklands’ 18-hole floating course – a world first – will be extraordinary. But the first course in the country was made by the RAF in 1962, on its airport island base of Gan in Addu Atoll.

The Five Lagoons Project
The concept of one island, one resort has been at the core of tourism in the Maldives since Kurumba welcomed the country’s first visitors. That is about to change, in a dramatic way. Dutch Docklands is developing five entire, empty lagoons. Two will have water villas; one will be made up of private islands; another will have a starshaped hotel with conference centre, oceanographic institute and shopping centre, while the last one will be a floating golf course. These futuristic visions are actually taking shape, with the first of 185 water villas now up for sale.

Expansion north and south
The story of development in the Maldives is one of expansion from the centre. Seaplanes extended the range of boat transfers but it is only with the coming of new regional airports that visitors can stay at the outer atolls in the far north and south. The airports were built by investors incentivised by being given a nearby island on which to build a resort. The finest is Huvadhu Atoll in the south, where you will find the new Park Hyatt Hadahaa, a perfect, small, round island with a superb beach and an outstanding reef. It was also the first to be built to the highest eco-friendly standards.

A Louis Vuitton resort
In 40 years, the accolade of “best in the country” has passed from one resort to another, as good ones are upgraded to become great and new ones are built. There is likely to be a new leader in 2013 and a discernible change in standards. Cheval Blanc – the ultra-luxury hospitality brand developed by the LVMH group, of which Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Ruinart are part – will open a new Maison on the island of Randheli in the north. There will be 46 villas on a lagoon, and four islands in addition, one of which will accommodate the spa. The award-winning chef Yannick Alléno will be in charge of the kitchen.

Underwater clubbing
The day before the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the first tourists in the Maldives (October 28, 1972), the brand new Niyama resort launched Subsix, the world’s first underwater nightclub. In line with the hip and happening ethos of its owner, Per Aquum – whose other Maldives property is the fashionable Huvafen Fushi – Subsix boomed to the sounds of the global star Tinie Tempah, who played at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics.

Ever-increasing choice
The roll-call of high-end resorts in the Maldives increases every year. In the past 14 months, no fewer than eight have opened: Ayada Maldives, Jumeirah Dhevanafushi, Jumeirah Vittaveli, Dusit Thani, Niyama, Viceroy Maldives, The Residence and Centara Ras Fush.

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The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit opens to the public on Saturday, and we were on hand for the press preview days this week.

We saw the debuts of dozens of new cars and concepts, and have picked out the 20 most interesting, important, and downright awesome rides at the show.

From the surprising concepts by Ford and Nissan, to the powerful offerings from Audi, to the long-anticipated C7 Corvette, here's our roundup of the coolest cars in Detroit this year.

Disclosure: Ford paid for our travel and lodging expenses to visit the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

On Tuesday morning, Ford revealed the Atlas, its new vision for a pickup truck that could replace or join its hugely popular F150. For its grand entrance, the Atlas was lowered from the ceiling.

By far the biggest reveal in Detroit was the new C7 Corvette. It's a radical makeover of the C6: Only two parts have been carried over. Made to deliver great performance in a drivable package, the Corvette will go on sale next year for an 'attainable' price.

Bentley's Continental GT Speed has a 6.0-liter W12 engine and is the fastest four-seat convertible on the planet.

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We’ve previously noted the changing dynamics of China’s culture of gift-giving, hastened by Beijing’s recent crackdown on excessive spending by government officials, but this week, a new Hurun Report survey finds that two luxury segments in particular — luxury watches and Chinese spirits — have been the hardest hit.

According to the Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2013, which surveyed 551 Chinese millionaires with net worth of over 10 million yuan, leading baijiu brand Moutai has fallen out of the top 10 brands preferred for professional gift-giving by millionaires in China, dropping from fifth to 13th place.

Among the reasons for this decline was greater public debate about spending on high-end baijiu by government officials — still Moutai’s largest single buyer base — as well as a high-profile product safety scare. Demand for Moutai was also hit this past year by a government crackdown on lavish banquets and alcohol ban at military events. Wine, however, remains a popular gift, according to the Hurun Report, with former auction darling Chateau Lafite making the top 10 this year.

As Hurun Report founder Rupert Hoogewerf told China Daily, Moutai’s drop in this year’s list is far from unexpected:

“[Moutai's] drop in popularity came on the back of the public debate on whether government officials,the largest customer base for Moutai, should be allowed to consume what is effectively a luxury brand with its main product retailing at 1,800 yuan ($289) a bottle, and also a health scare involving the use of plasticizers.”

As Jing Daily has previously written, luxury watches also took a hit in 2012 as eagle-eyed Weibo users exposed high-profile bureaucrats sporting timepieces worth tens of thousands of dollars despite modest official salaries. While demand for high-end brands remains strong, particularly among businesspeople, Longines was the only watchmaker to make Hurun’s gift-giving list this year, replacing Rolex at 15th place. We expect luxury timepieces to remain a controversial issue in 2013, as RFI (Chinese) reported this week that some government officials have stopped wearing watches altogether for fear of greater scrutiny.

Though behavior is changing, gift-giving is unlikely to completely go the way of the dodo in China. Conversely, it continues to thrive, yet in many cases luxury timepieces and high-priced bottles of baijiu are simply being replaced by less visible items. Indeed, a look at the Hurun Report’s study shows that accessories are far and away the most popular gifting category across all major luxury brands among Chinese millionaires. Smaller items like pens, keychains, wallets and bags that are easily concealed should remain popular gifts even in times of greater scrutiny, and as such brands like Montblanc (ranked seventh on this year’s list) could see a boost on the next installment.

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Massage parlor — the phrase conjures up images of the seediest days of Times Square in the late 1970s, when dozens of locations offered sexual services.

Even today, with that concentration thinned out, the words elicit knowing smirks from brokers, aware that such businesses continue to operate throughout the city in the nooks and crannies of commercial and residential properties.

These massage parlors thrive in part because the law adopted by the city’s Board of Estimate in 1978 banning sexual massage businesses and providing a strict review process for legal ones has become one of the biggest paradoxes in code enforcement.

Instead of cracking down on the massage parlors, thought to be hotbeds of prostitution, the statute today is used mainly to regulate gyms and health clubs, which are not.

The Real Deal has identified more than three-dozen massage spas in Midtown and Midtown South (see map below), and only six of those are in compliance with the 35-year-old statute that requires “physical culture establishments,” such as gyms, aerobics studios, martial arts and yoga studios — as well as massage parlors — to undergo a rigorous review process. That process generally includes an application for a change to the building’s certificate of occupancy with the Department of Buildings, a review by the Board of Standards and Appeals and an interview process with the city’s Department of Investigation.

View Midtown and Midtown South massage parlors in a full screen map

While most of the Midtown and Midtown South parlors are in small, Class C buildings owned by little-known landlords, some of the biggest property owners in the city, including the Estate of Sol Goldman, Lloyd Goldman’s BLDG Management, the Feil Organization and Vornado Realty Trust, own buildings with massage services but without the proper certificate of occupancy, the review revealed.

And a sizable number of the spas identified by The Real Deal offer precisely the kinds of illegal erotic services that the law was enacted to curb, according to online reviews, advertisements and conversations this TRD reporter had with parlor workers.

Many spas offered a basic massage for about $40 to $80 for an hour, with sexual services ranging from manual stimulation to sex for an additional $40 to $120. Several of the spa providers —including those at Galaxy Spa at 202 West 40th Street, Spa Valley at 1162 Broadway and Beach Spa at 312 Fifth Avenue — confirmed to this reporter that they would perform sex acts. Providing those services would be illegal, although one of those businesses, Beach Spa, was operating with the required physical culture certificate of occupancy; the other two were not.

Visits to several Midtown and Midtown South massage parlors TRD identified found them generally to be tidy, with low lighting and four or more small rooms with massage tables. While the majority of the massage spots included in this analysis are staffed with Asian workers, the Village Voice’s Backpage.com listings reveal a substantial number of Russian masseuses, but they typically advertise that they operate out of residential apartments.

One attorney who has represented health clubs – but not massage parlors – through the review process, said the city did not focus on illegal sex acts during their review. “The amazing thing is that [officials] are generally not asking you questions about prostitution or massage parlors, but are asking questions about noise and soundproofing,” real estate attorney Joshua Price, a principal with the Price Law Firm, said.

A group of yoga studios, subject to the law but attempting to avoid it due to a lengthy and expensive process because of it, have banded together to fight the law through a group called Yoga for New York. Calls to representative of Yoga for New York were not immediately returned.

As a result of complaints about the statute’s application, the city is reviewing the regulation for possible changes, Rachaele Raynoff, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of City Planning, said. “The city is working with the health club industry to explore ways to make it easier for health clubs to open,” she wrote, in an email to The Real Deal.“There’s no specific proposal [to revise the law] at this time.”

Raynoff declined to comment on the low percentage of massage parlors passing through the review process. The executive director of the Board of Standards and Appeals, Jeffrey Mulligan, also would not comment on the low level of review for massage parlors. He did note that “physical culture” businesses are required to file an application with the board only after the Department of Buildings determines that a special permit is needed. The DOB did not respond to a request for comment.

One landlord-representative broker active in Midtown South, who asked not to be identified in a story about massage parlors, said spa tenants were not taking a substantial amount of space in the area, which is popular with tech tenants. “In my experience, they are not competing with our typical office tenants for space, at all,” he said, noting that he represents mostly Class B buildings, and rarely gets calls from spas.

“If you are operating a facility like that, you would probably want to be in a building as inconspicuous as possible,” he added.

There does not appear to be a concentration in ownership of the buildings in which the parlors are located. The Estate of Sol Goldman owns two buildings with massage parlors, one at 211 East 43rd Street, between Second and Third avenues and another at 23 West 56th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. But the 56th Street building has a certificate of occupancy that allows for a spa, DOB records show. The other property,  like most of the buildings reviewed, does not.

BLDG Management owns 36 West 34th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, which is home to Dokyo Spa, where one provider recently offered sexual services to this reporter. The building does not have the necessary certificate of occupancy for a massage facility.

Meanwhile, the giant real estate investment trust Vornado Realty Trust owns the three-story commercial building 488 Sixth Avenue between 34th and 35th streets, which houses a massage parlor, and lacks a proper certificate of occupancy.

Walter & Samuels owns 30 East 40th Street, where a spa located in room 501 occupies a space that has a plaque identifying the office’s occupant as a dentist. The spa does not have the proper certificate of occupancy.

There’s yet another massage spa on the 11th floor of 200 West 57th Street, the tony stretch between Seventh Avenue and Broadway; that building is owned by the Feil Organization, and does not have the required certificate of occupancy.

The Estate of Sol Goldman did not return calls seeking comment; neither did BLDG, Vornado, Walter & Samuels or Feil.

TRD attempted to contact each owner of a building identified on the map, and was successful in speaking with several of them. A management representative for the owner of 11 West 36th  Street, who would not give her name, said the tenant was working with the city to get the proper certificate of occupancy. A representative of the management at 1162 Broadway said the building did not need a physical culture certificate of occupancy. Several other landlords declined to comment.

Long-time zoning attorney Sheldon Lobel, founder of the law firm of the same name, said the physical culture law was overly broad in its reach. He has represented many gyms and health clubs as they navigated the legal process. “[Representing those clients] helped put my kids through college, but it is another [example] of over-regulation. Maybe they have to refine it,” he said.

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A 34,000-square-foot mansion in Alpine, New Jersey, has sold for $20 million, according to Homes of the Rich.

The home was initially listed for $34 million back in June 2011; even at a steep discount, it's one of the most expensive homes ever sold in the state.

The house features some insane amenities: There are two salt water pools—one in and one outside, a library, a bowling alley, an indoor full-length basketball court, theater, elevator, and wine cellar and grotto.

There are eight bedrooms, 11 full bathrooms, and two half baths.

The estate sits on 3.18 acres. They don't call it the 'Garden State' for nothing!

Every detail in the two-story living room is done with precision, from the crown moldings to the carvings on the fireplace.

Note the poker table in the bay window.

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Why bother to order when you can have the chef do it for you? There are few culinary experiences that beat a well-curated tasting menu. These chef-chosen selections offer chefs a way to tell a story while letting diners enjoy five, seven or sometimes even more courses. You have to choose carefully though, as the meals can last upwards of four hours and cost over $100.

Of course, the city's fine-dining establishments offer amazing chef-curated selections, but we're going to look beyond the Per Ses and Eleven Madisons for tasting menus that are equally special, if a bit more off the radar.

Click through the slide show after the jump for our favorites — whether you're heading by for a special occasion or just a splurge, you won't be disappointed.

#9 Recette

328 W. 12th St.

Jesse Schenker's tasting menus are some of the best deals in town. Seventy-five dollars gets you five courses and $150 gets you 10, but the sweet spot is the seven-course selection for $100. The elegantly plated New American dishes are as tasty as they are beautiful, and you're likely to come across a flavor or presentation that you haven't tried before. The quality of the fare at this charming West Village spot is on par with some of the town's more famous fine-dining establishments, at less than half the price. Also, if you see something you like on the à la carte list, the servers will try to have it appear during your tasting, if you ask nicely.

#8 Brushstroke

30 Hudson St.

There is magic in the room at this TriBeCa Japanese, and you don't have to drop $150 at stand-along sushi counter Ichimuri to experience it. A standard tasting menu is $85 for about six courses, and will guide you through the restaurant's offerings. If you do go, we suggest spending a little extra for the $135 seasonal kaiseki tasting menus. This selection features roughly eight courses and showcases every type of fare that the restaurant has to offer. Because why choose between a meat course and a fish course if you can have both?

#7 Mas (Farmhouse) / Mas (La Grillade)

39 Downing St. / 28 Seventh Ave. S.

Chef Galen Zamarra is a secret threat in the world of NYC fine dining. His restaurant Mas (Farmhouse) may not get the ink in the press that Daniel or Le Bernardin inspire, but the eatery regularly ranks on our Top Food list. A six-course tasting of the French-inspired fare is $115, and you can expect a constantly rotating selection of dishes like Long Island duck breast with kale and port-glazed beets. Not only is it cheaper than the upper echelon of fine dining, the restaurant itself is less stuffy. Be it a birthday dinner or a third date, you'll feel at home here.

If you feel wary about cracking the $100 mark, the tasting menu at Zamarra's grill-focused Mas (La Grillade) is also a good deal, ringing in at $95 for six wood-fired courses.

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American imports of yoga products have doubled in the past five years, making it one of the fastest growing segments of the sports apparel industry. This won’t come as a surprise for anybody who’s tracked the meteoric rise of companies like LuluLemon Athletica, whose stock is up more than 30 times from its 2009 lows. Still, it’s hard to look at the import data for this industry and not come away impressed with the explosive growth.  

According to ImportGenius.com databases, which monitors every shipment coming into the U.S. by ocean, shipments containing the term ‘yoga’ increased 44% in 2012 over 2011. In just a year, the average weight per shipment increased nearly 9 times.

Source: http://importgenius.com/pulse/of/yoga

Meanwhile, since 2008, the number of shipments imported into the U.S. containing the term ‘yoga’ increased by 140% while the average weight per shipment was up more than ten times. It appears the industry is consolidating with larger shipments as big companies take the yoga phenomenon into the mainstream. We’ll be monitoring the trend closely to see if the growth continues in 2013.

The ImportGenius.com database of 75 million shipping manifests--one for every shipment entering the U.S. by ocean in the last 7 years--reveals other surprising facts about this burgeoning new industry.  

For example, despite the practice’s South Asian origins, the vast majority of American yoga imports originate in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.  Those regions account for more than 70% of all ocean-borne yoga exports to the U.S. Exports from China in 2012 were 44% of total U.S. imports.  It seems India has largely missed the boat on a business that it should naturally dominate, accounting for less than 1 percent of imports since 2006.

And next time your yoga friends stress their practice’s non-attachment to material outcomes, you may want to remind them that we imported more than 435,614,091 pounds of yoga-related products in the last year alone. So much for ascetic minimalism.

Lululemon Athletica, a leading retailer for yoga products, is a testament to yoga’s recent big boom. Recent reports and third quarter results show their revenue increased by 37% from last year. We can attribute this growth to 405 more shipments having been received in the U.S. in the past year compared to 2011. The weight of these shipments increased by more than 2.3 million pounds, and yoga mats, yoga clothes and running gear for sweaty workouts make up a bulk of what filled those containers.

Combining a tradition that goes back thousands of years with a level of fanaticism rarely seen in practitioners of any other sport plus clear health benefits from the practice, we can’t see any reason why this trend will slow any time soon.

SEE ALSO: An Ominous Sign That Lululemon's Glory Days Are Over

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Maybe it was the dual bubble windshields, perfectly framing the heads of Adam West and Burt Ward as they raced to the Gotham City crime scene.

Or maybe it was the flared bat wings, edged in orange. Or perhaps it was the ultimate jet exhaust, which flamed like a dragon as the caped crusaders raced out of the Bat Cave.

Whatever the reasons, the original Batmobile remains one of the most revered cars in America. And now the Batmobile – yes the very same one used on the 1960s Adam West TV show – is among the more than 1,400 cars expected to be auctioned off at the the 42nd annual Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale event this weekend.

The price: up to $5 million.

Scottsdale is the car-a-palooza of auto-collecting. And this year, auctioneers say the strong economy, growing investor interest in collectibles, and rare offerings like the Batmobile and a Mercedes once owned by Clark Gable, could push sales total to all-time highs.

The collectible car market isn't just back. It might be bigger than ever.

(Read more: Must-Have Super Car: $1.6 Million and Not Street Legal)

Craig Jackson, the CEO of Barrett-Jackson – the auto-auction company that launched the event in 1971 – said this year's sales total may top the company's all-time record of $108 million set in 2007.

"My goal is to beat it this year," he said. It looks like we have a good chance."

One good sign: the lines of credit available to buyers have topped $700 million. Jackson said that every potential bidder has to submit a letter from a bank or lender guaranteeing that a certain amount of cash is available for purchase. He said the total of $700 million in credit lines is likely to hit $1 billion – meaning buyers have a war-chest of up to $1 billion to spend this weekend.

Scottsdale is mainly a muscle-car scene, with loads of American hot rods and Hemis. But it also has a smattering of Italian exotics, celebrity rides and cars made famous by Hollywood.

The Batmobile is, hands down, the star of the show. There are other Batmobiles out there, of course. But all others were copies of the original, which began life as the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car that made its screen debut in a 1959 film "It Started With a Kiss" with Debbie Reynolds. Then legendary customizer George Barris turned the car into the Batmobile for the TV series. The car was used in the original series as well as the movie adaptation starring Adam West.

Jackson said that all other batmobiles were fiberglass copies made from this original.

"This is the real deal," he said.

Barrett Jackson will be auctioning off the car Saturday. Jackson said that the car is likely to sell for $4 million or more and could easily top $5 million. He said the most likely buyer is "an institution" – perhaps a museum or movie company linked to the Batman franchise.

"It's one of those wild cards, since we really don't know what it could sell for," he said.

(Read more: Lamborghini Miami Strikes Gold Among Foreign Rich)

Other headliners at Scottsdale include Clark Gable's 1955 Mercedes Gullwing, which could sell for millions. A 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider being auctioned off by Gooding & Co. could fetch up to $7 million, while a 1960 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta auctioned off by RM Auctions could bring in $8 million.

Another piece of Hollywood going up for auction is the Dukes of Hazzard stunt car, which was used in the popular 1980s TV series. The "General Lee" – a 1969 Dodge Charger – could fetch more than $60,000 when auctioned off by Bonham's.

Also on the block from Bonhams: the car used in the infamous tollbooth scene in "The Godfather," in which Sonny Corleone gets shot. He didn't survive, but the car did. James Caan pulled up to the tollbooth in this car, but there aren't any bullet holes. A different car was riddled with the bullets. There's no estimate on how much the 1941 Lincoln Continental Coupe might fetch.

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New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg's "soda ban," which passed last September, is limited to his city, but it's still freaking out fast food chains that are located far away from the East Coast metropolis.

CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, doesn't have a single restaurant in New York City. 

Yet CKE CEO Andy Puzder is really riled up about what Bloomberg has done.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s foray into this area is misguided. I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s anti-American. Every time you increase the power of government, you decrease our individual liberties,” he told QSR Magazine's Sam Oches, who took a deep look at the "Bloomberg Precedent."

“And it’s very difficult to see what’s a more personal decision a person can make than what they eat," Puzder said in the interview. "Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to cut back on those choices is really an attempt to try to change the government structure that we’ve had for the past 235 years.”

White Castle VP Jamie Richardson, whose restaurants are all over NYC, echoed Puzder.

“Sometimes the ideas people have in terms of how to tackle a problem look good in a textbook setting,” he told QSR Magazine. “It might look good in an academic setting. But when you try to implement those ideas in a real-world setting, it has horrific effects on real people and real neighborhoods. This is a classic example of government gone mad, [of] aggressive overreach.”

He's worried about what could happen next now that Bloomberg has set the precedent.

“The question we’re all asking is, If this is happening with soft drinks, what’s next?” Richardson said. “Portion-controlled plates? The death of the buffet? It just feels that this is a real overreach.”

But if the sugary-beverage ban is just in New York City, why should the rest of the country care?

Well, Bloomberg has made a big impact outside of his city with his food regulations in the past.

For instance, there was the trans fat regulation which limited artificial trans fats in foods to 0.5 grams per serving. Chains like fast food monolith McDonald's ended up changing some of their recipes systemwide, while additional cities like Chicago and San Francisco started looking at new trans fat regulations of their own.

There's also the worry about competition. After all, the ban doesn't affect convenience stores, so someone could buy a bunch of burgers from White Castle, then go across the street to a 7-Eleven and buy a massive Big Gulp.

SEE ALSO: Step Inside The Building Where McDonald's Runs Its Global Empire >

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The TSA will remove all of the controversial x-ray body scanners from U.S. airports after the company that makes the machines failed to find a way to make passenger images less revealing, Bloomberg reports.

Congress had asked the scanner manufacturer to find a way to produce more generic passenger images, but after failing to meet the Congressional timeline, the company terminated its government contract, a TSA administrator told Bloomberg.

The TSA had already started removing the scanners from 76 major airports last year; it now says it will get rid of the remaining 174 machines.

The move ends a $5 million contract with OSI Systems' Rapiscan unit, which will eat the costs for the project, according to Bloomberg. The TSA will replace the Rapiscan machines with versions made by L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.

The x-ray scanners created an uproar when they were first put into use a few years ago after the failed Christmas Day underwear bombing. Privacy advocates complained that the machines produced images of passengers that were too revealing.

The replacement machines from L-3, known as millimeter-wave scanners, detect potential threats automatically using a computer program and display a generic cartoon image of a person's body.

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Carrying money on vacation is a balancing act between safety and utility.

Making money difficult to access deters thieves, but when it comes time to pay for something, you still want to be able to get to it without stripping off clothes or playing hide-and-seek with a bag's hidden pockets.

With that in mind, here are 10 tips for carrying money safely and elegantly when you travel.

Use a dummy wallet

If you're traveling in a place known for pickpocketings or muggings, consider getting a cheap wallet that looks just real enough to keep in your pocket or bag.

Pad the wallet with some small bills and make it look more real by slipping in one or two of those sample credit cards you get with offers in the mail.

A dummy wallet can stop pickpockets before they get to your real wallet.

And in the scary and unlikely case of an actual mugging, it also gives you something to throw and run, buying you time to escape with your safety and your actual wallet.

Divide money

Even if you disregard all other advice about carrying money, take this tip to heart: Whenever possible, divvy up your travel cash and even credit cards into multiple safe spots.

If you've got all your money in one place, it only takes one time for a thief to totally wipe you out.

You can even apply this idea when you're out and about by keeping some money attached to your person and some in a bag you carry.

That way, if your bag gets lost or snatched, you'll still have enough to get to a police station or back to your hotel.

Favor on-body storage

Under-clothing storage accessories have come a long way since neck pouches and money belts came onto the scene.

Though those classics are still in favor, newer options include bra stashes, as well as long johns, underwear, and undershirts with built-in pockets for safe storage.

On-body storage accessories are particularly useful if you're sleeping somewhere that doesn't have a secure place for cash and other valuables.

Note that on-body storage isn't a good wallet alternative, since fishing around under your clothes for money advertises where you're hiding the goods.

And lest you think a fanny pack is a substitute for a money belt, realize that it can actually make you more vulnerable to thievery since it marks you as a tourist.

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This post originally appeared at Zagat Buzz.

It's NFL playoff season - but you already know that.

Why watch the game at home when you can cheer your team on with a bunch of like minded fans at an awesome sports bar (let's be honest - you may have a fridge full of beer, but the wings are going to be better there)?

To help plan your drinking strategy for the next few games, we've rounded up a list of our Top-Rated sport bars in New York. Stop by to watch the games, high-five fellow drinkers after a touchdown and shed a tear into your pint if it doesn't go your way.

Onward to the Super Bowl!

#10 O'Flanagans

Atmosphere: 20
Decor: 16
Service: 20

While easily mistaken for a “frat bar plunked down on the UES”, this “longtime” Irish hang is “frequented by all types” who share a taste for suds, sports and “decent” pub grub; when rotating cover bands take the back stage, it’s “always a good time.”

1215 1st Ave; 212-439-0660

#9 Slate

Atmosphere: 20
Decor: 18
Service: 16

“Nicer than a regular sports bar”, this “spacious” Flatiron billiards hall is a “fairly civilized” retreat with a “chill” bar/lounge on the ground floor and “lots of pool” and Ping-Pong downstairs; alright, it’s “pricey” and rather “corporate”, but overall it chalks up as “cool” for “twentysomethings and those who wish they still were.”

54 West 21st St; 212-989-0096

#8 Gym

Atmosphere: 20
Decor: 15
Service: 19

“Less showy and pretentious” than the typical “Chelsea boy” scene, this sorta-“butch” gay sports bar is the “opposite of g”, with a crowd of “regular guys” guzzling “cheap strong drinks” and feigning interest in the televised action; no surprise, there are more dudes “looking for jocks than actual jocks” in attendance.

167 8th Ave; 212-337-2439

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Every frequent flier has their bag of tips and tricks for sniffing out the best airfare deals.

And if you count yourselves among the faithfuls of the 'Tuesday/Wednesday booking rule', prepare to have your minds blown. 

A Texas A&M University study found airlines are more likely to post discounted airfares on Saturday and Sunday. In fact, rates were about 5 percent cheaper than those booked during the week.

Say what?

According to the study authors, there's a reason for the discretion: Airlines have figured out that people who browse fares on weekends are more likely traveling for pleasure than business.  This is a group that's harder to woo because they have all the time in the world to find the best rate, and airlines post lower fares to reel them in.

"This conjecture is supported by the finding that the weekend purchase effect is distinctly larger on routes with a mixture of both business and leisure customers than on routes that disproportionately serve leisure customers," the authors note.

But don't sleep on the Tuesday/Wednesday rule entirely, says Jeff Klee, CEO of CheapAir.com.

"Day of the week absolutely makes a difference when it comes to what day to fly, with Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays usually being the least expensive for trips within the U.S.," he says.

In fact, the discount airfare site just released a study that shows there may be no such thing as a  "best day to book" at all. The site's researchers scanned more than 560 million fare search records from 2012 and couldn't come up with a favorite booking day.

"It has become somewhat of an urban legend that it’s cheaper to buy tickets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays," says Klee. "While it’s true that airlines frequently publish system-wide sales on those days, it’s also true that there are large numbers of smaller scale, unpublished sales on other days. Add it all up, and we find that no one day was significantly better than any other."

Here are some other interesting findings from CheapAir.com's data: 

How far to book in advance: Seven weeks for domestic flights. Book 11 to 12 weeks out for international flights.

The worst day to buy: Within 11 days of your flight.  One day before the flight was the absolute worst.

The best fares for Thanksgiving: For Thanksgiving 2012, the best day to buy was, on average, 96 days (about 14 weeks) before the flight. 

The bottom line: Do your homework before booking any flight, and make sure you've got the right tools to set yourself up for the best fares. Many booking sites offer to match fares if you catch them dropping after you've booked your flights. You can also get an excellent idea of when to book domestic fares from Bing.com/travel, which has a 'Buy Indicator' that has yet to fail us. And if you have a destination in mind but have time to find the best fares, sign up for alerts from sites like SmarterTravel.com and Airfarewatchdog.com. 

SEE ALSO: 23 secrets to booking cheap airfare >

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It's hard to believe that Karl Lagerfeld would have a hard time selling his unused Gramercy Park pied-à-terre, but it took two years and a $2 million price chop for the famed Chanel designer to unload his 2,200-square-foot pad at 50 Gramercy Park North.

He's finally sold it to Macquarie banker Sebastian Barrack for $4.5 million, far less than its initial $6.5 million asking price, The New York Post reports.

Lagerfeld purchased the stark white, three-bedroom apartment in 2006 for $6.575 million. Rumor has it he never even actually moved in.

Unfortunately for Barrack, the apartment gets poor natural light and has a high maintenance fee. But it does come with a coveted key to Gramercy Park.

The apartment looks untouched.

The great room has expansive views of Gramercy Park.

The floors are all dark oak.

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This is the Lockey Bottle Lock from LockeyUSA.

Why We Love It: There are a lot of reasons you might want to secure your spirits — to keep expensive liquor safe at a party, away from roommates, out-of-reach from children or teenagers, or just as a self-preservation tool when you come home drunk at 2am.

Whatever the reason, this bottle lock slots into most standard-sized wine and liquor bottles and secures with a four number combination. After inserting the lock, change the combination and twist into place to secure. Only entering your personal four-digit password will release the lock.

Where To Buy: Available through Amazon.

Cost: $22.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

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Amber Atherton certainly isn't the first celebrity to own a business. Many of those in the limelight become their own brands and start companies.

But unlike other celebrity entrepreneurs, Atherton — a model who has appeared in magazines like Vogue, and the star of the UK-based reality TV series Made In Chelsea— started her luxury online jewelry boutique MyFlashTrash.com long before she was being recognized on the street.

Still, My Flash Trash really took off in 2011 shortly after Made In Chelsea first aired, and Atherton, now 21, has plans to expand the business to the American and Middle Eastern markets this year. Celebrity is a surefire way to quickly spread news about your brand and gain followers and trust, and this is something Atherton recognizes.

We caught up with Atherton, in her first US press appearance, to talk about the impact of fame on her business.

Tell me about the start of My Flash Trash.

Various sort of entrepreneurial ventures throughout my teen years led me to Flash Trash when I was 16. Initially I bought some costume jewelry in Hong Kong where I grew up, and I came back to boarding school in England and started selling it, but I wanted to reach a wide target audience. So I started writing a fashion jewelry blog and sold jewelry on there, and then it sort of grew organically.

While I was at the London College of Fashion I decided that I wanted to do luxury brand management after meeting different people in that realm. So I started a fashion management degree, but by this point I was struggling to keep up with running Flash Trash and filming the TV show, so I decided to take a year out after two years, and it was then that everything kicked off. 

What caused that take-off? 

I think it was various things, because I started it at the same time I was modeling, so it gained sort of a small cult following in the fashion scene, and then in that year suddenly we had a lot more designers and a lot more press; more celebrities were wearing the line, and then ‘Made in Chelsea’ started coming out, and that was when it became much more of a commercial success as well.

And how did you start bringing the initial attention to Flash Trash? 

Through modeling I got to meet insider contacts who work in magazines, or stylists and other models. It started organically with the blog gaining a popular following, and then through modeling and getting the jewelry placement in magazines and on other models and celebrities it started growing that way.

So you were able to wear your own jewelry during photoshoots? 

Yes. Either I wore it myself or other models did, or if I was shooting with a bigger model or celebrity I would talk to them about the line as well. It was at that time that I started getting more out on the scene, so I was bumping into a lot of celebrities, and I would introduce the line to them. But it happened so naturally as well; it’s not like it was premeditated or anything. It was just like I was doing this or that, and it fit. 

Do you think you would have had the same success without the fame? 

It would’ve, because even when I was doing it at school I was modeling, but not loads. I was probably doing more business, and then modeling. So I think it would have naturally happened anyway, but modeling sort of helped with it. 

When did you start filming ‘Made In Chelsea?'

I started filming the pilot for that in 2010. At the time I was interning at an agency called The Saturday Group, and a friend of mine working at same company knew a TV guy, so we started talking him about the show, and that’s when we started filming the pilot, and then it got picked up. I think it must be on the fourth or fifth by now, but I left after doing one episode in season three to focus on my business. 

Was the business a big part of the show? 

Flash Trash featured heavily on the show because that’s what I was doing in my life, and it was a reality show. I had to balance my day like I did when I was modeling. It was difficult, though luckily at that point I had two employees at that stage, but it was all about time management. 

When did you really start to become well-known and recognized, and how did it affect the business? 

It was 2011 when it started. The show was on TV, and people were recognizing me in the street. I was becoming more involved in the celebrity world with parties and charity events and working with brands, and in that year that’s when my public profile started to get bigger. I started to go from just a model “it” girl into a celebrity. It feels very strange talking about myself like this, but that’s kind of what happened, and that’s when I started getting profiled more by magazines about high-end style, and Flash Trash started getting a lot more attention at the same time. 

Has being famous ever been a hindrance to the business at all? 

No, not really. I think it’s only done good things for it, because it just put more attention onto the business—more press, but at the same time we had jewelry mentioned in many fashion editorials that were very separate from anything having to do with me, so it almost just captured another market. 

Has being famous made you more aware of yourself as an entrepreneur? 

It has made me more aware, but fame in general I think makes you more aware of yourself. You’re kind of on a pedestal, and even just the way people interact with you in public changes. It does make you feel slightly alienated, in a way, but that was sort of okay with me, because I could still run my business. I almost found sanctuary in my office because that’s where I was just normal-business-owner-Amber, in my office with the staff. 

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Though President Obama's second inauguration day falls on a Sunday this year, the observed public swearing-in ceremony, inaugural address, parade, and officials balls will all be taking place on Monday the 21st in Washington.

And though the expected crowd of between 500,000 and 800,000 won't be quite as huge as it was in 2009, that doesn't mean DC restaurants won't be swarming with tourists and locals alike.

So if you are in town, take advantage of all the Obama- and presidential-themed food specials. Whether it's a former-Presidents-themed tasting menu or a Barack-tacular drink special, these are the best and wackiest deals in the DC area.

The Lincoln Restaurant is having a Presidential Tasting Menu.

The Lincoln Restaurant will be serving its Presidential Tasting Menu all weekend until Monday with dishes such as JFK fish chowder to start, Obama olive oil poached salmon as a main entree, and Ronald Reagan monkey bread pudding for dessert. The three-course meal will cost $45 and ends on the 21st.

Thunder Burger & Bar is serving a Hawaiian-themed menu to honor Obama.

Thunder Burger & Bar is celebrating all week with a special Hawaiian-inspired Presidential menu. Specials include an appetizer of Hawaiian-style Ahi poke and a dessert of macadamia nut pie with Kona-coffee ice cream. And if you're brave, try the Obama Burger (a "loco moco") with two scoops of rice, a burger patty, two fried eggs over easy, and topped with brown gravy.

Cashion's is having a three-course Barack Obama prix-fixe.

On inauguration day, Cashion’s will be offering its regular menu along with a three-course, Barack Obama-themed prix-fixe for $40.14 from 5:30-11pm. They'll be serving tuna poke, dry-aged beef strip loin, and a Hawaiian pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. 

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It is a face known throughout the world, but the public will see a different side of the Queen today as a portrait banished for 61 years goes on display.

The controversial painting was once banned from Liverpool town hall because it looked nothing like the Queen and her neck was "too long”. Embarrassed council chiefs ordered it to be hidden from public view in the vaults.

But now the artwork, which councilors have tried to hide for more than half a century, will hang in the city’s St George's Hall.

The painting was rejected when it was commissioned for the Queen's Coronation but has been salvaged to commemorate the event’s 60th anniversary.

Even the artist John Napper, who created it in 1952, famously said it was "a beautiful painting of a queen, but not this Queen".

Originally the Liverpool Corporation refused to hang it in the Town Hall. It hung briefly in the Walker Art Gallery instead, but has spent much of the last 61 years in storage.

But today, trustees at St George's Hall announced that the portrait will be permanently shown there to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

Liverpool's deputy Lord Mayor Gary Millar, a trustee of the hall, said: "We are very proud that Liverpool now has the original first painting hanging in St George's Hall, which has been rehung to celebrate the anniversary of the Queen's Coronation.

"It will be the first thing people will see if they come to get married or have a civil partnership or attend a citizenship ceremony."

The painting is Napper's second portrait of the Queen to be put on display in Liverpool.

After his first version was rejected by the council, he painted a second with a smaller neck, which was finally accepted by Liverpool town hall and still hangs there today.

Cllr Millar said: "It strengthens the link between the city's two civic buildings.

"The second version of the John Napper painting is hanging in the town hall and we have the original here.

“It is an honour for us to work with the friends of the hall, the staff there and the city council to rehang this beautiful painting."

The controversial portrait was unveiled just days after the Duchess of Cambridge's first official portrait by Paul Emsley was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery to mixed reviews from the art world.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: "We do not comment on any of the portraits of Her Majesty The Queen."

Mr Napper’s widow Pauline said today: “I remember the painting well. He was disappointed with the angle at which he painted it, he only had one sitting.

“I was due to be hung up high so that you would look at it from below. If you looked at it from that angle it looked normal.

“Then when they showed it they didn’t put it up high and then it didn’t look like the Queen.

Speaking from the home they once shared in Ludlow, Shropshire, she added: “It is a beautiful painting, obviously he would have been pleased that it is going on display. I am pleased too, it is a beautiful portrait.”

Mr Napper, who died in 2001 aged 84, painted both the Queen and Lady Churchill during the 1950s.

Prince Charles, whose portrait he painted in 1996, was an established fan and collector of his works

SEE ALSO: A Look At The Incredible Crown Jewels Of Major Countries Around The World

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